No Easter Bunnies Here… I’m a Hare

As we went up to my parents for lunch, a very pleasant yearly gathering of the ‘clan’ myself, Dad and my younger brother took Megan (Mum and Dad’s black Labrador) on a quick walk round the country lanes to tire her out before we sat down for lunch.

As usual I took my camera but I utterly failed at the ‘wildlife cameraman’ bit, it wasn’t my fault… even Megan was stunned. As we rounded a bend in the lane running towards us came three European Hares (Lepus Europaeus). We were so shocked we just stood there until they got within about 10 feet, stopped, looked us up and down, then jumped in the adjacent field and sped over the grass.

To see a wild Hare that close was fantastic so we laughed and joked about it and my failure to capture it on camera until I spotted four more running along the wall, ready to speed across the field after the previous three. This time I was ready and although the camera setup wasn’t perfect, I managed to snap this bouncy fellow.

I’ve seen Hares in this part of the country before but never so bold or so many at once. Only when you actually see one in the wild do you truly realise the only relationship between Hares and Rabbits is the general shape – they’re bigger than a large cat and very, very fast. If I were a predator I’d have second thoughts tackling one of these guys.